What kind of tests do you conduct at ZSEM?

Karmela Aleksic-Maslac: The Zagreb School of Economics and Management (ZSEM) was founded in 2002 and, hence, we have been fortunate to be able to implement all the advantages of information and communication technologies into the process of education. At the moment, ZSEM is the only HE institution in Croatia that systematically uses WebCT in classes. Up to now 66 courses have been developed. WebCT helps students to test their knowledge in online quizzes.

In our paper, we described four types of quizzes: online quizzes used as a simulation of a real quiz, online homework, online quizzes - tests in an informatics classroom, and a course evaluation at the end of semester.

What are the main differences?

Karmela Aleksic-Maslac: All types of quizzes are similar. Online homework is intended for distance learning students. Since DL students do not attend classes, their activity is evaluated through homework designed in the form of quizzes. Every week students get one quiz that is connected to the lecture held during that week. Only selected DL students are eligible for homework. There is a high participation percentage in homework. The average of successfully solved homework is 77.15%.

In the ICT class, during one semester three online quizzes are held. In order to prepare our students as well as possible for the exam, we made quizzes that serve as a simulation of the actual quiz. They are not mandatory, but we advise students to take them in order to check their knowledge before the exam. The designers can follow detailed statistics, and thanks to that, they can easily conclude which questions were easy and which were difficult. Taking this into account, they can make some corrections in the actual exam.

Online quizzes in informatics classrooms are similar to simulation quizzes. In this way, we have also accelerated the process of quiz correction since the student has the results only few seconds after finishing the quiz. Teachers profit from automatic data analysis and detailed quiz statistics.

Online quizzes have also been systematically used for a course evaluation at the end of semester. It is important that evaluations remain anonymous. The student's completion of the questionnaire is registered, but no one can say which student completed which questionnaire.

You are using WebCT for your online quizzes. What experiences, positive and negative, have you had so far?

Karmela Aleksic-Maslac: For example, after having finished the quiz, the students can immediately see the results of their quiz and receive feedback on all questions. In this way, we have also accelerated the process of quiz correction since the student has the results only a few seconds after finishing the quiz. The survey showed that students tend to be very satisfied with this way of testing. In the beginning, teachers have to try very hard to create the tasks, but in the long run, the project is worth having since all tasks remain in a database.


I also mentioned that we have systematic online evaluation at the end of each semester. WebCT evaluations shorten the process of data analysis and the comparison of results of different courses, teachers, and assistants.


In a few steps one can get an arithmetic middle, mean, mode and standard deviation. It also generates the database for each questionnaire, which can be downloaded and used for a more complex statistical analysis.

What recommendations can you give to other universities?

Karmela Aleksic-Maslac: In most sciences today, the half-life of knowledge is five to six years. Since the rapid development of ICT is making this period even shorter, one of the main goals of every educational system is to prepare its students for lifelong learning. The introduction of ICT into education provides great opportunities for high- quality education.


The classic role of teachers has changed: they become a mentor for the students. In a way, the teacher becomes a student as well, having to learn constantly learn, accept new technologies, and implement them in the educational process. Online tests are one of the advantages that can improve quality of the education.